The ability of business users to manage crucial business information has been greatly enhanced by the proliferation of IP-based networking together with advances in object oriented Web-based programming and browser technology. Using these advancements, systems have been developed that permit web-based access to business information systems, thereby allowing any user with a browser and an Internet or intranet connection to view, enter, or modify the required business information.
As used herein, the term web-based business application or web-based business information system generally refers to a business software system having browser-based access such that an end user requires only a browser and an Internet/intranet connection on their desktop, laptop, network appliance, PDA, etc., to obtain substantially complete access to that system. Examples of web-based business applications include those described in the commonly assigned U.S. Ser. No. 10/406,915 and U.S.  Ser. No. 10/665,308, each of which is incorporated by reference herein. Further examples of web-based business applications include application service provider (ASP) hosted services provided by NetSuite, Inc. of San Mateo, Calif. such as NetSuite™, Oracle® Small Business Suite, NetCRM™, and NetERP™, descriptions of which can be found at www-netsuite-com. A further example of a web-based business application is discussed at www-salesforce-com. Web-based business applications can also be implemented using non-ASP models having different hosting mechanisms, such as with self-hosted systems in which a business enterprise operates and maintains its own private, captive business information system having browser-based access across an intranet and/or the Internet. As described in the above-reference patent applications, a commercial enterprise can achieve many functional and strategic advantages by using a web-based business information system comprising integrated ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), and other business capabilities.
One factor that can affect the success of a web-based business information system relates to the degree to which it can integrate with the native e-mail system of the end user. As used herein, the term “native” e-mail system refers to an end user's conventional e-mail application or e-mail service lying outside the web-based business information system itself. Although a web-based business information system may itself offer an internal e-mail utility, with messages being sent and received by the end user from within that system's browser window, it is very common for end users to have a preferred native e-mail system. The end user's native e-mail system can be a dedicated e-mail application running on the end user's computer (e.g., Outlook, Eudora, etc.) that interacts with an e-mail server, or can alternatively be a web-hosted e-mail service (e.g. Yahoo!Mail, Hotmail, etc.) having browser-based access. As used herein, the term “client-side” e-mail system also refers to a native e-mail system, because even web-hosted e-mail services can be thought of as “client-side” applications relative to the web-based business information system that is being accessed by the end user. By way of further terminology clarification, as used herein, the term “system user” can be used synonymously with “end user”, both referring to the person who is using the web-based business information system.
By way of further clarifying example, a hypothetical company Company_X might subscribe to a web-based business information system from a hypothetical ASP service provider “WebCRM.” With respect to the web-based business information system's internal mail utility, an employee Employee_A of Company_X would typically have an e-mail address of employee_a.company_x@webcrm.com. If Company_X has its own domain “company_x.com,” then Employee_A would also typically have a native e-mail system such as Outlook and a native e-mail address of employee_a@company_x.com. Alternatively, Company_X might require its employees to fend for themselves with regard to e-mail, whereby Employee_A's native e-mail system could be the Yahoo!Mail service, with Employee_A's native e-mail address being employee_a657@yahoo.com.
Especially in the context of CRM functionality, but also in other contexts such as supplier and vendor management, it is desirable for a business software system to accommodate orderly tracking of e-mail communications between end users and their external contacts. As used herein, an external contact generally refers to an e-mail location lying outside the domain of the web-based business information system, e.g., outside the domain “webcrm.com” in the above example. Typical examples of external contacts include customers, sales leads, partners, vendors, suppliers, and the like. However, external contacts can also include co-workers of the end user when they are contacted at their native e-mail address, e.g., employee_b@company_x.com.
Tracking of an e-mail communication refers to the creation of at least one record or metadata object that can be used to facilitate future reference to the contents of that communication from within the web-based business information system. Tracking methods can range from simple schemes generating flat-file listings on a per-end user, per-recipient basis to more complex schemes involving message content analysis and indexing.
Generally speaking, known prior art web-based business information systems can effectively track e-mail communications between an end user and their external contacts only for communications arising directly out of the system's internal e-mail utility. If the end user instantiates an e-mail thread with an external contact from their native e-mail system, that information is not automatically tracked by the web-based business information system. In such case, manual inputs such as event creation and cut-and-paste operations are required to get those communications into the web-based business information system, which is highly undesirable.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a web-based business information system that is capable of automatically tracking e-mail communications between an end user and an external contact while allowing the end user to utilize their preferred native e-mail system for at least a portion of those communications.
It would be further desirable to provide a web-based business information system having such automated e-mail tracking ability that is functional across a wide variety of different native e-mail systems, including both dedicated e-mail application software and web-based e-mail services.
It would be still further desirable to provide a web-based business information system having such automated e-mail tracking ability that does not rely upon specialized software, such as browser plug-ins, at the end user computer.
It would be even further desirable to provide a web-based business information system that can automatically track such e-mail communications regardless of the external contact's e-mail system type.
It would be even further desirable to provide a web-based business information system in which any artifacts associated with such automated tracking would be reasonably transparent to the external contact.
It would be still further desirable to provide such tracking capability in a web-based business information system that has security safeguards against tampering or other compromise of the requisite tracking information.